IU-Kenya Partnership

Kerio View Resort Hotel

Less than a week after Indiana University Men’s basketball team upset No. 1 ranked Kentucky on a last second three-pointer, we traveled to Eldoret, Kenya to visit with a IU professor, Judy Ernst, doing research on nutrition with women and children who are HIV+. And while we visited the IU house, where many medical students, doctors, and professors stay while working with the IU-Kenya partnership, the basketball hoop on the compound grounds was as close as we got to Hoosier hysteria.

Megan with Judy and
her Kenyan research partner Lydia

We did learn about AMPATH, tour facilities are Moi Hospital, walked through the Riley mothers and children center, and visit a sustainable artisan craft business managed by HIV+ women. We saw first-hand the results of aide funding from USAID and the influence Indiana University has along with other US colleges.

HIV+ women empowered by designing and
 constructing artisan bead work at Amani gift shop

On our visit, we enjoyed Judy’s hospitality, staying with her at her home in Eldoret, and meeting her adopted Kenyan family, Peter, Christine, and their two kids Jesse and Judy. Our time wasn’t only spent within the city limits, but we met and accompanied the Kenyan staff working on Judy’s research project in a village called Turbo and then went into the field to visit two project participant women in their rural homes.

Judy (left) and Jesse (right)

Even a trip to the Kerio View Hotel found its way into our weekend, where we made the 45 minute drive from Eldoret to the home area of Kenyan Olympic runners. Taking in the breath-taking view of the Rift Valley with a soda and a snack, and passing dedicated runners on the street, we can easily see why training for long distance races with hills and elevation around 8,000ft would be an advantage.

Enjoying a soda while visiting
a project participant

View from Kerio overlooking the Rift Valley - home to Olympic Kenyan Runners